PAKISTAN: Afghans Find Their Welcome Running Out

The number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan who will return to their homeland this year is expected to be double the 2009 figure, but it’s not only a longing for their native soil that is fuelling the Afghans’ departure.

CHINA: Alarming School Dropout Rate Blamed on Teaching Methods

In Chinese education, the examination is paramount.

SRI LANKA: A Former Woman Combatant Struggles to Pick Up the Pieces

As a young woman, Ranjani (not her real name), a 32-year-old Tamil from Sri Lanka's eastern Batticaloa district, only had bright hopes for tomorrow.

MALDIVES: Education Reforms Herald Digital Learning, Radical Changes

When students walk into the Majeediya Boys School in this capital of the Maldives every morning, they are invariably drawn to the digital notice board in the courtyard that carries important announcements.

MALAYSIA: Thousands of Refugees Living in Constant Fear of Arrest

As Rajoo, 27, makes tea at a rundown shed in Brickfields, a depressed suburb of the capital inhabited by hundreds of Tamil immigrants from Sri Lanka, he evinces no sign of anxiety and a deep yearning for something.

AUSTRALIA: New PM Called On to Tackle Climate Change

Australia’s newly appointed prime minister, Julia Gillard, has hardly warmed her seat, yet she has already been urged to take action on climate change.

PAKISTAN: Water Trickles Back into Village, Thanks to Solar Desalination

Ismail Achar never thought a day would come when his island village would be reduced to a barren tract of land with hardly a drop of water to drink.

ENVIRONMENT: Thailand Fights Addiction to Plastic Bags

Buy a hairpin and the sales clerk has a microscopic plastic bag for it. A soda purchase from a corner store may end up having the liquid poured into a plastic bag, and then topped off with a plastic straw. There is no plastic bag yet that could fit a car, but if there was one country that could come up with one, Thailand would probably be it.

PAKISTAN: Prevalence of Hepatitis Infection Still Alarming

Unable to afford treatment for his disease, Azizur Rehman, 29, has been suffering from hepatitis C for the past one year. "My elder sister died of the same killer ailment one year ago for lack of treatment," he laments.

LAOS: Water Headaches Follow Growth of Cities

At 63, Kingkham Duoangsavanh has it made. Now retired after decades of working as a nurse, she lives happily with her grown-up children in a well- appointed home with all the amenities. But up until recently, a constant shortage of water has marred her comfortable existence.

DEVELOPMENT: Women Adamant for Change as the Maldives Struggles to Reform

Authorities in the Maldives view women’s issues as a core human rights problem and are keen to tackle them head on, but cultural and religious issues often stand in the way.

POLITICS: All Quiet on the Australian Front on Role in Afghanistan

The lack of debate here concerning Australia’s military involvement in Afghanistan is unlikely to change in the near future despite the recent deaths of five Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel in the war-ravaged nation.

LATIN AMERICA: Majority Favours Legalising Abortion – But Not for All Cases

The majority of people surveyed in Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Nicaragua are in favour of legalising therapeutic abortion, but not all forms of elective abortion, according to a study by the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO).

Female Presence Growing in Brazil’s Gangs

They are no longer simply the girlfriends of gang members. Women have increasingly become members themselves of Brazil's youth gangs over the past decade -- though they have yet to reach the leadership positions of their male colleagues.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Leper Colonies on the Road to Extinction

The Culion island, in the western Philippines, is increasingly becoming a magnet for tourists drawn to its corals in the shallow waters close to its shore, its deep green hills and its ancient Spanish fort.

FILM: A Congolese Woman’s Journey of Survival and Triumph

Suffering through the atrocities of war affects people in different ways. Some become crippled by anger, others by fear. Some become violent and want only revenge. And some, like Rose Mapendo, an inspiring survivor of the war and ethnic cleansing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, come out with a strong commitment to work for peace and reconciliation.

RIGHTS: Problems Beset Cambodia’s Anti-Trafficking Campaign

Worrying trends continue to plague Cambodia and provide considerable concern for the future despite the gains it has reportedly made in combating human trafficking.

HEALTH-NEPAL: Multiple Problems Mar Fight Against HIV/AIDS

To women who have lost their husbands to the killer AIDS disease, learning a skill to earn a living could be a matter of life and death.

BURMA: Public Education a Drain on Family Incomes

Once again, parents in military-ruled Burma are counting the cost of a primary education for their children in public schools. It is an annual ritual that comes with the beginning of a new school year, which coincides with the onset of the monsoon rains in June.

DEVELOPMENT: Cambodia Struggles to Reduce Maternal Deaths

For Chan Theary, a remote, mountainous stretch of land in western Cambodia encapsulates the uphill struggle this South-east Asian nation faces in reducing the alarming number of women who die during pregnancy.

Swiss Plan to Gag Refugees

Only two years after its last revision, the Swiss Asylum Act is about to be 'reformed' again. The changes include a gag order on political activism for asylum-seekers and a modification of the concept of a refugee.